Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although many gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.